34 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



leading along with them the dogs and horses; nor did 

 they rejoin us till after midnight, having lost their 

 reckoning by the way. Their comrades who were with 

 me, conjecturing the cause of the delay, requested me 

 to fire signal-shots at intervals throughout the night, 

 which was the means of their eventually reaching their 

 destination. At an early hour on the following day, 

 leaving Kleinboy with the natives to look after the 

 ivory, I set out with two men, to show them where the 

 other elephant lay, and thence to continue my way to 

 camp. 



The weather had hitherto been favorable for the toil- 

 some pursuit of elephant hunting, little rain having 

 fallen since I had first entered the country. At length, 

 however, the rainy season was at hand, and we were 

 constantly visited by the most appalling thunder-storms, 

 accompanied by overwhelming torrents of rain, which 

 filled the hitherto dry nullahs and gravelly water-cours- 

 es with running streams, and converted the parched for- 

 est and arid plains into blossoming verdure and grassy 

 meads. While hunting I was often overtaken by the 

 rains, and on these occasions I still managed to keep 

 myself tolerably comfortable by compelling the natives 

 to erect for me a bothy, or temporary hut. This duty 

 they often proved reluctant to perform ; but I invaria- 

 bly managed to gain my point by explaining to them 

 that, if my, guns and powder were exposed to the rain, 

 they would die, and then I could kill no more elephants 

 for them. 



"When attended by a large party, tlie erection of a 

 good substantial bothy was a simple and easy proceed- 

 ing, and was accomplished in the following manner : 

 One party, armed with tomahawks, went in quest of 

 long forked poles, which they out in lengths often feet ; 



